Apparent Efficacy of Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard Programs at Four Naval Air Stations
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University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln 2 - Second Eastern Wildlife Damage Control Conference (1985) Eastern Wildlife Damage Control Conferences September 1985 APPARENT EFFICACY OF BIRD AIRCRAFT STRIKE HAZARD PROGRAMS AT FOUR NAVAL AIR STATIONS Thomas C. Walker Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Phila., PA C. Willard Bennett Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Charleston, SC. Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/ewdcc2 Part of the Environmental Health and Protection Commons Walker, Thomas C. and Bennett, C. Willard , "APPARENT EFFICACY OF BIRD AIRCRAFT STRIKE HAZARD PROGRAMS AT FOUR NAVAL AIR STATIONS" (1985). 2 - Second Eastern Wildlife Damage Control Conference (1985). 47. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/ewdcc2/47 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Eastern Wildlife Damage Control Conferences at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in 2 - Second Eastern Wildlife Damage Control Conference (1985) by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. APPARENT EFFICACY OF BIRD AIRCRAFT STRIKE HAZARD PROGRAMS AT FOUR NAVAL AIR STATIONS by Thomas C. Walker and C. Willard Bennett* ABSTRACT evaluations or trials of bird control methods. Many have The Department of the Navy- involved a single species or implemented its present manda- management technique. Boudreau tory bird-aircraft strike (1971a, 1971b) reported the reporting system in 1981. effectiveness of bio-accoustics Reported bird-aircraft strikes in dispersing horned larks, have increased each year, house finches and gulls. presumably due to increased Nemergut, et al. (1976) success- awareness and compliance with fully dispersed starlings from regulations. Four Naval air Seymour-Johnson Air Force Base, stations implementing bird- NC using distress calls. Mead aircraft strike hazard reduc- and Carter (1973) documented a tion programs in 1984 reported 12.1% decrease in bird observa- 57-78% fewer strikes in 1984 tions on long grass versus short than in 1983. grass on 10 airports in the United Kingdom. Many studies INTRODUCTION of the effectiveness of bird dispersal and control technigues Ever since the first record- in reducing bird numbers in the ed bird-strike fatality on airfield environment and April 3, 1912, bird hazards agricultural situations are have been of major concern to documented in the literature. pilots and the entire aviation Defusco and Nagy (1983) provided community. Bird-strikes can a detailed literature review. be divided into two major Relatively few studies docu- categories based on location: ment reductions in bird-strikes those that occur in the air- as a result of control programs. drome environment and those This is probably due to the that occur enroute. specter of liability associated Solman (1971) reported that with experimenting with aviation 75% of all bird-strikes occur safety and undoubtedly influ- at or near airports. Kull enced by Federal Aviation Admin- (1983) reported that 47.9% of istration regulations prohibit- the U.S. Air Force bird- ing experimentation on civil strikes from 1980-1982 occur- airports. Cooper (1970) and red in the airdrome environ- Heighway (1969) reported 100% ment. For this reason, reduc- reductions in bird-strikes tion of bird populations and after implementing falconry bird-strikes within the air- programs at Lossiemouth Air drome has been the subject of Base, Scotland and Torrejon Air numerous studies, papers and Base, Spain. Mattingly (1974) conferences. achieved an 83.3% reduction in Most studies have been field bird-strikes involving prairie chickens at Whiteman Air Force "Northern Division, Naval Base, MO using falconry. The Facilities Engineering Command, U.S. Air Force Bird Aircraft Phila., PA. Southern Division, Strike Hazard (BASH) Team has Naval Facilities Engineering documented the effectiveness of Command, Charleston, SC. on-site reviews by professional 115 biologists in reducing bird- to document the nature and strikes in the airdrome (Kull severity of the bird-strike and Mill, 1985). hazard at Naval air stations and The information collected to dispel the common belief by the Naval Safety Center and within the Naval air community the Naval Facilities that nothing could be done to Engineering Command since 1981 reduce or prevent bird-strikes. and discussed in this paper During 1983, four Naval air provides another opportunity stations (sites 1-4, Table I) to infer the effectiveness of were assisted in developing bird-aircraft strike hazard aggressive bird hazard reduc- reduction programs. tion programs. All four sites were visited by biologists Acknowledgments experienced in bird management. Me thank A. E. Bivings, V. Surveys were conducted to Brust, T. Burst, A. J. Godin, identify existing and potential D. Gracie, R. C. Kull, E. R. attractions to birds. Programs Ladd, B. Moore, J. W. included alteration of flight Peterson, L.E. Terry, R. L. operations, habitat manipula- Thompson, and T. J. Will for tion, bird dispersal or control their suggestions and field and pre-flight planning and assistance in implementing the pilot awareness as recommended bird-aircraft strike hazard by the U.S. Air Force Engineer- reduction programs. We thank ing Services Center (1985) and C. J. Kellett and T. G. Snoich Lucid and Slack (1980). The for their efforts in most commonly implemented establishing the computer data operational change was delaying base and inputting data. take offs and landings until birds could be dispersed from the active runways. Habitat manipulations included changes METHODS in grass height management, removal of roost and nest sites The Department of the Navy and improvement of drainage to implemented its present reduce water sources. Bird mandatory bird-aircraft strike dispersal methods implemented reporting system in 1981. A included the use of pyrotech- data management system was nics, distress calls, shooting, established on an IBM computer avitrol and hazing with system. Information collected vehicles. Not all of these is compatible with the Air methods were employed at any Force BASH data system to one site. No attempt was made allow for comparison and to evaluate the effectiveness transfer of data. of individual techniques. The Starting in 1981, the Naval objective was to incorporate as Safety Center began a program many techniques as practical to increase pilots' and and necessary into an integrated airport managers' awareness of program to reduce the number of the seriousness of bird- bird-strikes. aircraft hazards through articles in the Naval Air Programs were considered Safety Review, the Weekly implemented when standard Aviation Safety Summary and operating procedures or station command briefings at Naval air regulations were developed. stations. The major emphasis Sites 5, 6, 7, 11, and 12 were of the awareness program was visited by the authors, members the need for accurate reporting of the Air Force BASH Team or 116 representatives of the Naval (Table I). The species of Safety Center, but had not birds involved in bird-strikes implemented bird-aircraft at sites 1-4 during 1983 and strike hazard reduction 1984 are shown in Table III. programs by January 1, 1984. One bat-aircraft strike was The number of bird-strikes reported at site 3 in 1983. reported at sites 1-4 is Nine bat-aircraft strikes are compared to bird-strike data included in the data base for reported for 31 other Naval 1983 and 1984. All species and air stations. groups showed reductions in bird-strikes after program RESULTS implementation. The five sites which had The Wavy recorded bird- received on-site assistance, strikes at 181 military and but which had not implemented civilian airports. The number bird-aircraft strike hazard of bird-strikes reported at 35 reduction programs by January l0 Naval air stations during 1983 1984 showed net changes in and 1984 is shown in Table I. reported bird-strikes ranging These represent Navy-operated from -33.3% to +12.5%. Twenty- air stations for which five or four of the remaining 26 sites more bird-strikes were reported showed net changes of +11.1% to in 1983 or 1984. Using Navy +1000% and two sites showed no bird-strike data from 1981- change (Table I). 1984, five is the mean number of bird-strikes per year DISCUSSION expected to differ at the 90% confidence level from a The findings presented in theoretical population of this paper are not the result airports with no bird-strikes of scientific investigations. (Mean=2.2, standard deviation= The effectiveness of the bird- 2.7). These stations accounted strike hazard reduction for 75.2% and 74.6% of all Wavy programs must be inferred from bird-strikes reported as occur- the Navy-wide trends during the ring in airdrome environments same time period and comparison in 1983 and 1984 respectively. with Air Force and other avail- Navy bird-strike reporting able data. increased each year after Reported bird-strikes implementation of the Naval increased each year from 1981- Safety Center awareness program 1984. The percentage of bird- in 1981. Operating hours strikes occurring in the air- remained relatively constant. drome and enroute remained Bird-strike rates increased relatively constant while the proportionally to bird-strikes reports for unknown locations (Table II). Enroute and decreased slightly. This location unknown bird-strikes suggests that increased represented 20.5% and 13.3% of reporting was a result of the reported bird-strikes in increased awareness and efforts 1983 and 23.9% and 12.8% in to comply with regulations. 1984 respectively. This assumption is supported by The four Naval air stations Air Force findings that bird- that implemented bird-aircraft strike reporting increased after strike hazard reduction publications or on-site visits promoting bird-strike awareness programs by January l0 1984 reported 57-78% fewer bird- (Kull and Will. 1985). The strikes in 1984 than 1983 geographic distribution of the 117 35 sites included in this have gradually decreased with study makes it unlikely that the progressive development of the increases are the result the BASH program (Gillespie, of localized increases in bird 1980).